Cooked flounder has tender, juicy white meat and excellent taste. In addition, this fish has one important property – a small amount of bones, which is very convenient when eating.
Flounder meat contains 20% proteins with a balanced composition of amino acids required by the human body, as well as: – vitamins A, B and E, – phosphorus, – iodine, – fatty acids. Regular consumption of flounder brings invaluable benefits to humans, however, in order to get the maximum of valuable substances from it, the fish must be properly processed and cleaned.
Primary processing of flounder
Defrosting the flounder is called primary processing, which is often incorrectly done and leads to a deterioration in the taste of the fish. Also, the primary processing includes the separation of inedible parts and cleaning the flounder from the viscera.
To properly defrost the flounder, you need to fill it with several liters of cold water, adding 15 grams of salt to it. During traditional defrosting, fish loses about 8% of useful microelements, while salted solution minimizes this loss. Depending on its size, the flounder can thaw for 2 to 4 hours.
Frozen flounder fillets must be thawed exclusively without water and at room temperature in order to preserve the nutrients of the product
When defrosting yourself at home, do not beat off the flounder and do not carry out any other “violent” manipulations with it, otherwise the product will lose a lot of natural juice, which contains a large amount of vitamins.
To clean the flounder from the scales and entrails correctly, place the thawed fish with the black skin on top. With an oblique cut, separate the head and make an incision with a sharp knife along the fish to the very tail, ripping open the flounder’s belly. To remove the guts and scale from the bottom, stick your thumb between the meat and the top skin of the flounder, gently separate the skin from the tail, and clean the blood from the vertebrae. Remove the fins and rinse the flounder under cold running water.
If you wish, you can leave the flounder fins and thorns, as there is very tender and juicy meat under them.
If you are going to cook the flounder with the skin, use the following cleaning method. Pre-scald the fish with boiling water – this will facilitate the process of removing the scales. Then take a knife or stiff brush and patiently begin to peel off the scales. Carefully handle the skin around the fins and tail. Having completely cleaned the flounder, you can start cooking it.